Country kitchen napkins

I think I may have mentioned my very talented, generous friend on here before. She introduced me to freezer paper and gave me hoard load of fabric :) I know, she's awesome.

Anyway, this fabric was part of the stash, and I thought it would be the perfect pattern for some napkins as part of Andy's grandma's eightieth birthday gift. 

It's simply two squares (using a paper napkin as a template) sewn right sides together, turned, ironed and top stitched. Times four.

I think they go great with these mugs ;) A little sneak peak at what else I've been up to! 

An easy sewing gift for someone hard to buy for or a perfect little hostess gift. 

Chic and free craft storage

I started a work from home job last week. 

It's been kind of crazy. Props to any mums who work, and just mums in general really! I've done a few hours a week for a while. But sixteen plus hours a week is seeming like a lot to me, mostly because I'm doing it all after the kids are in bed, which is normally my blogging time (I know first world problems!), so this is why I've been gone. Just wanted to let you know, as I people have asked.

Anyway, this is one of the gifts I've made for someone...I can't say who because she's been known to read my blog! But this would work great for your own personal stash too.

Simply paint an old jar lid with chalkboard paint.

And fill with your prettiest craft supplies. You could change this up ANY way you wanted. Fill with food for your dad, sweets for a teen, nail varnish for a sister and loads more! What would you put in yours? Any ideas I can steal? ;)

Cute and simple totes

First I have to apologise for taking a break from blogging and not mentioning it. I really had to take a break from everything non-essential in the run up to school starting and summer ending. Including blogging, which helps to keep me sane! 

Of course I have still been crafting. If not I would have been fully certified. And I'm properly back now, with lots to photograph and share!

Anyway, I stash busted a bit, okay a LOT, with these. The main fabric was a curtain my friend gave me, and both the paterned pieces were scraps. The only thing I bought were the black handles, the grey ones were actually ties on a top...upcycling too far?

I did the bags like a production line, and over a few days. While my kids were playing in the back garden I cut the rectangle for the bags and any embellishments. For the bow bag I cut a big rectangle just longer than the width of the bag, and a much smaller rectangle. For the ruffle ones a long width of the same fabric.

For the rest I just laid with them a fabric piece for the applique, trim or, for the one with the band of green floral, I made the width the same as the bag's width.

That night I sewed on all the embellishments, the pom pom trim, ruffles (I did mine by pinning the start and end in a straight line then pushing it under the foot as I was sewing. It's not perfect, but it works!), bow (this is a great tutorial, though I just used one piece for the main part and sewed into a tube.), and reverse applique. It took me two to three hours, but I got in my groove and it went really quick. I even started sewing some of the bags together!

Then to make the bags I folded the rectangle in half, sewed up the edges, back stitching on each end, and zig zag stitching the raw edge, then folding the top edge over twice and ironing and stitching. This took me three hourish sessions at the sewing machine.

Then in another session I sewed on all the handles, zig zagged the edges of the straps then pinned and double sewed (?!) them along the hem. 

Done! Great thing to make in bulk. I loved designing each bag differently and imagining which female relative will get which at Christmas. I already gave one away as a birthday gift, before getting a picture sadly, but it was three reverse applique hearts in the green fabric. 

Oh, and I'm keeping the bow one. I accidently made one extra :)